The Three Puppets



The old man pushed the hold button, and checking the hallway, moved to a space without blood. Leaning against the elevator wall, he pulled his shoes off and placed them in the bag. He pulled a slipper from a side pocket and another one from the other pocket. He slipped them on and sticking his head out into the hallway again, looked both ways. Then staying clear of the blood, he stepped into the hallway. His gloved hand reached back in and pressed the down button.

He didn’t want to track blood, Mark thought dully. The elevator doors closed, and Mark felt its surge as it dropped for the lobby. Oh God! He cried silently. Oh God!
His right foot moved, and he could turn his head. The sightless eyes of the young woman stared at him. Mark quickly shifted his eyes from one to the other. All of them were dead. He felt the elevator come to a stop. His eyes jerked up as the elevator doors opened slowly, like in a slow motion dream.

Outside the elevator was a ring of faces, faces filled with shock and disbelief, and then horror. Screams and shouts filled the air, and then the faces were gone.
Mark could move a little more now. He tried to shake his hand, to rid himself of the cursed gun, but his fingers wouldn’t move. The elevator doors shut, and then opened again. He looked up as more shouts sounded from the lobby. Blue uniforms appeared all around the door. They were shouting at him to drop the gun. Suddenly, he could feel his legs. Mark tried to push himself to his feet. The shouts came louder and more urgent. They wanted him to get rid of the gun, the dreaded thing hanging like a dead weight from his fingers. His lips began to move, and
he could whisper.

“I can’t,” he whispered. He made his tongue move again, trying to say it louder, but it was still only a whisper. They would never hear him.

Gunfire sounded and something pushed at his arm; the same arm with the gun. Another gunshot sounded, and he was falling sideways down the elevator wall. He blinked his eyes, but the dim light turned to blackness, and he felt himself falling into its depths. The last thing he remembered was the cursed gun slipping from his hand.